Airbus’ defense and space business has won a potential $600 million contract from Inmarsat to construct the first two communications satellites for integration with the Inmarsat-6 satellite constellation.
The two I-6 satellites will work to provide Ka- and L-band mobile communications services to Inmarsat clients, Inmarsat said Wednesday.
Airbus is scheduled to hand over the first satellite, I-6 F1, to Inmarsat by 2020 and will host the I-6 constellation payloads through its Eurostar E3000e satellite bus.
Inmarsat CEO Rupert Pearce said the company expects the new satellites to expand the delivery of Ka- and L-band services to customers and further leverage the firm’s Global Xpress constellation.